Perhaps preferring basic soils in the wild, this plant also escapes from gardens. The gaudy coloured ones are escapes while the native plant tends to have blue or white flowers. The wild plants also have hooked spurs while garden varieties often have long elegant straight spurs.

It is common throughout England but I wonder how many of these records are of the escaped garden varieties. Frequency reduces in Ireland and the north of Scotland but it is found there too.

Ranscombe Farm woodlands, Kent 3rd June 2007

Added on 16th May 2005, updated 1st October 2008, updated 27th Feb 2010, updated 6th November 2014